How does the gambling affect the society?. Gambling is properly playing games of chance, such as cards, pitch-and-toss, etc… for money.. The essential feature of gambling and betting is
Trang 1How does the gambling affect the society?
Gambling is properly playing games of chance,
such as cards, pitch-and-toss, etc… for money
But it also includes betting, which is staking
money on an uncertain future event, such as a
horse-race The essential feature of gambling and
betting is the risking of money on a chance, in the
hope of winning a large sum
Moralists always denounce gambling as wrong,
Trang 2and yet at first sight it is not easy to show why it is
wrong It is true that in a game of chance or a bet,
one of the parties must lose his money, but the
gain of the other cannot be called robbery,
because both parties willingly agree together to
run the risk You might say that if two sensible
men agree to risk the loss of their money in a
game of chance, it is their own business, and no
one has any right to interfere with them Perhaps
a comparison of gambling and dueling will help us
to see why gambling is an evil In a duel, as in a
Trang 3game of chance, both parties willingly agree to
run a risk In gambling they risk the loss of their
money; in a duel the loss of their lives But in most
modern civilized countries, dueling is a crime in
the eye of the law, and is punishable with heavy
penalties Why? If two men agree to try to kill
each other, that is their own private affair Why
should the law stop them? The answer is that it is
not their own private affair It is a public affair;
because, if every citizen can take the law into his
own hands and avenge an injury himself, all law
Trang 4and order in the state will go to pieces And
gambling is condemned for the same reason;
because the effect of gambling is injurious, not
only to the individuals, but to public social life
The evils of gambling may be summarized as
follows First, it discourages steady habits of
industry by holding out before men the hope of
getting rich quickly and easily Secondly,
gambling often becomes a habit, as strong as the
drink craving, which a man cannot break; and
Trang 5frequently it leads not only to his ruin, but to the
misery of his family that depends on him Thirdly,
it produces an unhealthy and restless excitement
in men’s minds Lastly, it often ends in theft and
embezzlement, and even crimes of violence
Judged by its effort, it is therefore an evil